Various types of machinery support systems have been around for years. Examples of some of prior art machinery support systems include U.S. Pat. No. 5,110,082 “Adjustable Apparatus for Supporting Machinery or Other Load” and U.S. Pat. No. 5,016,338 “Method for Adjusting the Vertical Position of a Frame on a Foundation.”
FIG. 1A shows the frame 12 of a machine 10 anchored to and supported by a foundation 14, which is typically constructed from concrete or steel. Anchoring is done by anchor bolts 22. The frame 12 may initially rest on jacking bolts 24 or on hydraulic jacks. Of course, the goal in anchoring the frame 12 is ultimately to have the weight of the machine 10 borne directly by the foundation 14, if the foundation is steel, or intermediately by grout which is poured above and onto the foundation 14, as is typically seen with concrete foundations. In this prior art system for supporting the machine 10, a base chock 26 rests on placement bolts 28, which in turn rest on or are anchored to the foundation 14. For stability purposes, the base chock 26 may include suitable threaded openings to receive the placement bolts 28.
One type of prior art support system is a tapered wedge support 30, such as shown in FIG. 1B. The tapered wedge support 30 uses a flat surface to support the machine (not shown), which may or may not match the same exact plane as the base (not shown) of the machine or equipment support. Matching the plane can be important to properly support the machine and provide good vertical and horizontal restraint for the machine base being supported. One example of a commercially available tapered wedge support is the Rowan Lock Chock™ from Robt. L. Rowan & Associates, Inc.
Another type of prior art support system is a screw jack support 50, such as shown in FIGS. 2A-2B. The screw jack support 50 has threaded portions 52 and 54 and a top portion 56. The threaded portions 52 and 54 thread together and provide vertical adjustment. Threaded portion 54 and the top portion 56 have convex/concave spherical surfaces to compensate for the foundation and the machine base being out-of-plane. The screw jack support 50 is similar to a double spherical washer, which is often used under the top nut of a machine anchor bolt to compensate for any difference between the machine boss of the equipment base and the plane of the bottom of a typical hex anchor bolt nut. The main problem with the screw jack support 50 is that the load capacity is limited by the shear strength of the screw threads 55 that provide the vertical alignment for the support 50. Consequently, screw jack supports 50 have large diameters to provide enough cross-sectional area at the base of the threads to resist the weight of the machine being supported, the preload from the anchor bolt, and the shaking forces from operating the machine or from other external forces, such as wind loads and seismic loads. One example of a commercially available screw jack support is the Vibracon™ SM Element from Machine Support B. V.
The subject matter of the present disclosure is directed to overcoming, or at least reducing the effects of, one or more of the problems set forth above.